Circle of Seasons

An Exploration of the Church Year

Introduction

The modern Christian Church - particularly the Catholic and Episcopalian denominations - observes a cycle of liturgical seasons throughout the year that reflect on the events of the life of Christ, and on the relationship of those events to our lives. Like other human-made seasons, these spiritual seasons do not always correspond to particular dates on the calendar or seasons in nature. Like the calendar and the changes of nature, however, the seasons of the church return each year.

1. History of the Church Year
   A discussion of the history of the development of the church calendar; where the observances come from and how they developed
2. Seasons of the Church Year
   A tabular presentation of the season of the year in order, with notes describing each season; links in the table provide access to a glossary of terms
3. Holy Week
   A discussion of the church's highest holy days
• The Great Three Days: Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter
  A more detailed discussion of the observance of the three holiest days in the church year, especially as observed at Holy Cross Monastery, with links to auxiliary materials on observances and suggestions for expanding one's experience of this time of year.
4. Site Notes
   A few notes on the current state of the site, including directions to the other two test solutions.

History of the Church Year

The earliest church had no seasons, and only one feast: Easter, or Passover. Even in the earliest churches, there was debate as to how this feast was to be celebrated, and variations abounded. Some said the feast must fall on 14 Nisan of the Jewish calendar, the date for Passover, because Easter was the Lord's passover. Others felt it must fall on the first day of the week, since that was the morning on which the resurrection happened. In either case, the whole of Jesus' life and ministry, and all the events that led to Easter, were commemorated in a single observance that began at sunset and lasted until dawn. That observance is the precursor of the modern Easter Vigil.

When Christianity was officially recognized as the state religion by Constantine, and believers were able to go freely and in relative safety to Jerusalem to celebrate the Christian Passover, it gradually became the custom to commemorate the events of Jesus' life as close as possible to where they actually happened. Thus, pilgrims would go out to the Garden of Gethsemane to re-enact Jesus' praying in the garden and his arrest. They would go from there to Pilate's headquarters, to re-enact his trial and sentencing. They would then walk through the streets to Calvary, commemorating Jesus' slow walk to his execution, carrying the cross. Over time, the original single Vigil became a week-long observance of the events leading to Easter.

From that point, as the church grew, other feasts and seasons were added to its observances. A period of fasting came to be customary before Easter; the time became fixed at 40 days, probably in memory of Jesus' forty days spent fasting in the wilderness, and the period came to be called Lent. The feast of Pentecost was adopted from the Jewish calendar into the Christian one, because of the gift of the Holy Spirit on that day. The feast of the Ascension of Jesus was added, forty days after Easter as described in the Book of Acts. The whole period from Easter to Pentecost became the Easter season.

In addition to observances directly related to Easter, other feasts were added to celebrate other events of Jesus' life. These include the Anunciation to Mary, Christmas and the Advent season preceding it, and Epiphany to commemorate the visit of the Magi. Many come from interpretations of scriptural references; others from local tradition. Together, these feasts and seasons make up the circle of the church year.
back to top

Seasons of the Church Year

The table below outlines the modern seasons of the church year, with some liturgical notes.

Note: This site is going to be rather large when finished; unfortunately there was not time to flesh out all of the details before submitting the test for grading. However, I have ensured that all present links work, including a couple sample links to the Holy Week page which is incomplete and not part of the test.

The links for Advent wreath, Advent calendar, and O Antiphons lead to the solution developed for Scenario 2, a three-column layout with a background image.

The link to the text of the O Antiphons and Magnificat, in Scenario 2, leads to the solution developed for Scenario 3, a two-column layout of content. Because I needed two different backgrounds for the two- and three-column layouts, the background for Scenario 3 is named background2.gif.

back to top